Preemptive Strike
by haleigh.l
Summary: Steph comes up with a plan to control Batman. It goes about as well as can be expected. A collaborative story between haleigh.l and Lintu68. Rating for language and sex...SMUT warnings abound.
1. Chapter 1

_**Preemptive Strike**_

_**By haleigh.l and Lintu68.**_

_For those of you familiar with Lintu68's amazing writing, you might recognize the smut throughout this story as her talent._

_Linda – thanks for all your help for everything from working out the plot to the dialogue and especially for the smut. This story just wouldn't be the same without your contribution. I enjoyed working with you, and I hope we can do it again._

_No major spoilers for any of the books_

_Rated M for language and smut – warnings for both abound!_

_As usual, we own none of these characters, and are only amusing ourselves. All will be returned, though they may be a bit sore and flustered._

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Stephanie found herself pushed up against a brick wall, the rough surface pressing into her back, creating a stark contrast to the hot male body pressing into her front. Ranger's face was an inch from hers, their lips almost touching, his midnight black eyes boring holes into her.

"What's going on with you and Joe?" he asked and pressed himself more firmly against her. His thigh slid in between hers and before she could stop herself she ground against him, trying to ease the need building inside of her.

"What? We're fine," she lied. She and Joe had the mother of all fights the night before. She was pretty sure she and Joe were done. But she wasn't about to let Ranger in on that fact. The grapevine would do that for her soon enough.

"You happy?" he asked, brushing a soft kiss to her lips before trailing soft kisses along her jaw line to her throat. Against her will, Steph found herself tilting her head back, offering her throat for him to kiss. Catching herself she cursed her Hungarian hormones and tried to remember the question.

"Yep." She answered, just a bit too breathlessly.

Ranger's lips and teeth were still busy working on her neck. His fingers sneaked their way in under her shirt and brushed across her pebbled nipples, causing small shivers to run down her spine. He ground his thigh against her hot center, making her gasp at the sensation. He used the opportunity to kiss her full on the mouth. The kiss was hard and demanding, his tongue plunging deep inside her mouth. The kiss caught her off guard but before she had time to react, he pulled back, leaving her panting and desperately wanting more. He smirked at her puffy lips and lust-darkened eyes. "Liar," he whispered, and walked away.

Steph stared after him as she tried to catch her breath. Bastard. He was applying pressure again. It was the same as the first time he had started applying pressure, when they had been chasing De Chooch. It had started with kisses and innuendo, increasing to epic proportions when she and Joe broke up, and then exploding into one magical night of ecstasy. And then….well, then nothing. The fuse had burned out, and they had gone back to being friends.

"That's it!" she mumbled to herself, still standing in the alley behind Vinnie's. She just needed to burn out the fuse.

She knew if, or rather when, she and Joe broke up for good, and she told Ranger, that he would keep upping the pressure, slow and steady, until her heart was so far gone that she wouldn't survive another morning after.

But if she were in control…if she 'burned out the fuse,' so to speak, before Ranger could increase the pressure…

Somewhere in the back of her mind, the sane Stephanie was trying to be heard, jumping up and down, waving her arms, screaming that this was a terrible, terrible idea. But the stupid Stephanie was sure about this, and drown out the sane one.

A preemptive strike. That's what was called for here. For the sake of their friendship, of course. She would just have to jump him. Then they could go back to being friends.

She slowly walked back into the Bond's office, hoping to get some help from the girls.

"So…" she trailed off, not at all sure how to broach this subject. Finally, she just decided to blurt it out. "How exactly do you go about seducing a man?"

Lula and Connie both stopped what they were doing and stared at her.

"Girl, you gonna seduce Batman?"

"No!" Lair, liar pants on fire. Well, maybe not. This was Ranger she was talking about. There wouldn't need to be much seducing. She'd just need to show up. Right? God, she hoped so. Her powers of seduction had always been questionable.

"No," she continued. "I just need to, uh, do something to get Joe's attention. It's, um, a special occasion, so, uh, I need to really _wow_ him. Ya know?"

"Uh huh," Lula said.

Both women looked highly skeptical, but Steph kept going. No way was she telling the truth on this one.

"So…what should I do?"

"That's easy, girl. Just show up with a coat on with nothing underneath. Then when you open the coat…"

"Yeah, guys like that," Connie said.

"I don't know," Steph said. She wasn't sure she was really a naked-under-the-trench-coat kind of girl. She was wonder-woman on the inside. And that definitely seemed like a Catwoman thing to do.

"I'd bet Batman would like that better. You should save that for Batman. Supercop wouldn't appreciate it."

They were talking about nakedness here…Joe would appreciate that plenty.

"Yeah," Connie said, "Ranger's very stealth. He would like that. Course you could always wear lingerie under the coat if you're nervous running around naked."

Steph had to be honest with herself here, she would be very nervous running around naked. The lingerie under the coat, that she could get on board with.

"Yeah, maybe I'll try that," she said. "You think Joe would like that?"

"Uh huh," they both replied, giving her _that_ look.

"_Joe_," Lula said, making little air quotes, "would like that just fine."

Steph sighed. She was going to have to get better at lying if she was going to pull of this plan.

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Two hours later, Steph was back in her apartment. She was sitting on the couch, starting at the Victoria's Secret bag on the coffee table in front of her. She gingerly reached out and poked the bag.

See, it didn't bite. She took a breath and poked it again and nearly jumped out of her skin

when the bag fell over, spilling out black lace with little blue satin accents.

She was still staring at it when she heard her locks tumble. Frantically, she scooped up the offending lace and shoved it under the couch cushion, sitting back up just as Ranger stepped into the room.

"Babe, looking a little crazy."

"Well, maybe you should knock for once. It's polite, you know?"

"Never been accused of being polite."

Steph snorted and tried to discreetly move onto the cushion hiding the lingerie. She was 90 percent sure that Ranger did not have x-ray vision, but just in case, she'd block it with her body.

"So what's up?"

"Got a job for you, tomorrow night."

"Distraction?"

"No, surveillance. I'm short a guy this week, so I was wondering if you could fill in."

"Sure, what time, and who with?"

"10-2, with me."

She tried to smile and nod, and prayed his ESP didn't pick up on her frantic thoughts. Surveillance with Ranger. Shit! There was no way she'd make it through a four hour shift in the close confines of an SUV with the amount of tension between them.

She was going to have to step up her plan. She was going to have to seduce him tonight. That was the only way they could work together tomorrow.

She swallowed hard. "Do you have to work tonight?"

"Yeah, but only till ten or so."

She nodded.

"Why?" he asked, frowning slightly.

"Oh no reason. Just making friendly conversation. You know, when two people talk and say mundane things…"

"Babe."

She stopped rambling. He walked over to the coffee table, set the Victoria's Secret bag back upright, and picked up a tiny pair of black lace panties.

She sat, frozen, while he studied the garment, before lifting his gaze to her eyes. Her face was on fire. It had to be four different shades of red. Ranger's mouth slid into a wolf grin. He shoved the panties into his pocket.

"Later, Babe." He winked and walked out the door before she even realized what had happened.

When she came to her senses she jumped up and ran to the window, but his truck was long gone. She grabbed her phone out of her purse and punched in speed dial 1.

He answered on the first ring. "Need something, babe?"

"You can't just walk out of here with my underwear!"

"Little late to stop me."

"I may need those."

"I can take you shopping for new ones. I'm good in a dressing room."

Steph felt a hot flash all the way through her body at his words and the husky tone of his voice. Images instantly filled her mind and she blinked hard to clear them. This was the damn pressure. She had to put a stop to it. So, as cruel as it was, she played the only card she had.

"I'm pretty sure Joe wouldn't appreciate another man buying me lingerie."

"I know _I_ wouldn't." And he hung up.

Steph sat back down on the couch, staring at her phone. Speaking of Joe…she should probably call him.

She'd hate to have misunderstood Joe last night, and have him still thinking they were together. But then again, 'if you walk about of this house, we're done' didn't usually leave a lot of room for interpretation. Especially seeing as how she had responded to the statement by giving him a particularly rude hand gesture and slamming the door behind her.

She sighed and pressed speed dial 2. She felt more than a little awkward calling her hopefully ex-boyfriend to double check they were broken up. So she could seduce another man. Awkward.

"Morelli," he answered.

"Hey Joe, it's me."

"Hey Cupcake. Didn't expect to hear from you till Wednesday. You usually pout at least that long."

Deep breath. Deep breath. Concentrate on the task at hand. "Well, Joe, that's kind of why I was calling. I wanted to make sure we were both on the same page about what was going on with us."

"Yeah. I proposed, you said no. Pretty sure we're in a very long off-stage, Cupcake."

"A forever long off-stage?"

"Unless you decide to grow up. Or get a new job."

Yeah, pretty sure neither of those things was going to happen any time soon.

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She pulled into the RangeMan parking garage and turned off the car. She planned on getting out, she really did, just as soon as she caught her breath. And got her heart rate back under control.

She had on her fall jacket. It was as close to a trench coat as she had. Underneath was the new lingerie, sans matching panties. Ranger already had those. Convenient, actually. She had bought the set with a hypothetical seduction in mind. If she had known then that it would be tonight, she would have gone for something a little more covering. One of those long, floor-length nightgowns with long sleeves and a high neck. You know, the ones Amish girls wear.

Her phone rang. Crap.

"Hello."

Tank's big voice boomed out. "Hey Bombshell, everything all right?"

"Yeah, yeah. I just needed to talk to Ranger about something. Is he upstairs?"

"Yeah, want me to call up there?"

"No, no," she said, probably a little to quickly if Tank's chuckle was any indication. "I have a key, I'm going to go on up."

Tank hung up and Steph took another deep breath. She pulled her jacket a little tighter around herself, and climbed out of the car. She made it to the elevator before she started shaking. She made it to the 7th floor foyer before the little sane Stephanie voice in the back of her head was so loud she couldn't think.

She stood there in front of Ranger's door. Go in, chicken out…go in, chicken out…She was still debating when Ranger opened the door.

Preemptive strike…here goes nothing.

She took a deep breath and a step closer to him. He raised an eyebrow in question.

Placing one hand on his chest, she firmly pushed him inside the apartment and out of the view of the cameras. It might have been too late to chicken out, but like hell she was going to give all of RangeMan a free show in the process. Luckily Ranger let her push him inside without problem.

"Babe?"

"I came to retrieve my underwear." More like present him with the rest of it.

"Really?"

"Yes," Steph said, undoing her jacket, showing Ranger what she was wearing, or rather not wearing, underneath.

She shook the jacket off of her shoulders and smiled when Ranger drew a sharp breath at the sight of her lacy bra, thigh-high stockings and garter belt. The black FMPs only enhanced the illusion of her having legs up to here and the obvious lack of panties made the picture incredibly erotic.

"The outfit is not quite the same without them," she said. "I need them back."

For the first time ever, Steph saw Ranger speechless. He was actually doing a fairly good impression of a goldfish, and she had to stifle a giggle at the absurdity of the situation.

Taking another breath for courage, Steph stepped up to Ranger. Fisting her hands in the front of his shirt, she gave him a none too gentle shove up against the wall. Pressing him against it with her body, she kissed him with everything she had.

She caught him completely off guard and it took him a few moments to pull himself together enough to kiss her back. At the first touch of his tongue to hers, she felt the all too familiar stirrings of lust low in her belly. Kissing Ranger felt so right, and his soft lips were amazing. Deepening the kiss, Steph fisted her hands in his long hair. The silky strands felt wonderfully soft in her hands, and on a whim, she pulled hard, forcing his head backwards, presenting his throat to her. She leaned in and kissed his Adams apple. Egged on by the groan that escaped his lips, she continued her assault of his throat. Moving down to where his neck met his shoulder, she sucked hard, marking him.

Ranger's hands came up to her hips, his fingers digging into her skin almost painfully. He pulled her flush with his body and she felt his hard length pressing into her stomach. Her nipples were painfully hard and strained against the thin lace of her bra and her lack of panties made the wetness on the top of her inner thighs all the more noticeable.

Grabbing the hem of his t-skirt, Steph pulled it over Ranger's head. The small pause apparently got Ranger thinking again and he questioned her, slightly out of breath.

"You sure about this?"

"I thought this was what you wanted."

"Oh yeah, but I don't think…"

"We're going to do this, and it's going to be good."

Steph kissed him again, and within seconds Ranger had apparently gotten over his doubts because he was kissing her back with fierce passion. She ran her hands over his smooth warm chest, reveling in the feeling of his hard muscles under her fingers. For once Steph was completely in control and the feeling was incredibly empowering, completely overshadowing her earlier fears. She took a step back from him and smiled when his eyes roamed over her body. Turning her back to him, she looked over her shoulder and gave Ranger a seductive smile. She sashayed into the bedroom and like a good puppy, Ranger followed her. Maybe this seducing thing wasn't so hard after all.

She pushed him down on the bed and stood in front of him. As she reached behind her back and undid the bra clasp, she heard Ranger swallow audibly. She threw the bra on the floor and moved to straddle Ranger where he lay propped up on his elbows in the middle of the bed.

She felt him long and hard through his pants and rubbed herself against him, trying to get some release. Trailing soft kisses down his mocha colored chest, to the hard ridges of his abs she felt the need to feel him inside of her grow with every second. Running her fingers along the line of dark hair that trailed down from his belly button, she heard him groan. His hips lifted from the bed of their own demand, and his hands were fisted in the sheets.

Deciding that was enough foreplay, Steph tugged at Ranger's pants and he helped her take them off. Straddling him again, she slowly lowered herself onto him, her body trembling as she stretched to accommodate him. Grabbing her hips, Ranger thrust himself all the way into her and she could almost feel her body vibrating from the consuming need.

Ranger grabbed her and flipped them over while managing to stay buried deep inside of her. He set a fast, hard pace and Stephanie matched it effortlessly, just as eager as him. Every time he filled her to the hilt, she felt jolts of pleasure course through her body. When he bent down and sucked one of her hard nipples into his mouth, she felt the orgasm start to build. His one hand was kneading her breast, his mouth busy on her other nipple and her own hands were buried in his hair, trying to pull his mouth even closer.

She wrapped her legs around his waist, pulling him deeper inside of her with every stroke, making them both groan with the immense pleasure. Ranger reached down and roughly pinched her clit, and immediately the climax hit her, hard and fast. She barely had time to catch her breath before Ranger bit down on her nipple and sent her into another violent climax. As the waves crashed over her, the passion piercing her body, she felt Ranger empty himself inside of her.

Eventually they both came down again and lay panting on the bed. Feeling sleep overtake her, Steph realized she needed to leave immediately or she'd actually have to talk to him tomorrow. Definitely not part of the plan.

Pushing him to roll off of her, she got out of bed and stepped into the FMPs on the floor.

"Well this was fun," she said and walked out to the hall in search of her jacket.

"Babe?" Ranger was standing in the hall, pants back on. He looked…confused. Not a look she saw him often. He was holding her bra in his hand, offering it to her.

"Keep it," she said with a sultry smile. "It matches the panties you have in your pocket."

Pulling her jacket snuggly around her, she turned and walked out of his apartment and took the elevator down to her car. Well, that fuse was definitely burned out.

Ranger stood still, staring at the closed elevator doors. He had no idea what just happened. He just knew that he felt like he had been hit by a bus. The sex had been great...it was Stephanie…but… Shaking his head he turned and walked back to the bedroom. Suddenly he noticed the bra he was holding and looked at it. He realized that she was currently driving home almost completely naked under that coat and suddenly his pants fit a lot snugger. Christ, that woman was going to be the death of him.

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_Please review! More coming soon…_


	2. Chapter 2

_This story is a collaborative effort between haleigh.l and Lintu68. None of the characters belong to us, and we make no profit. Rating for language and serious smut_

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"So, you wanna explain what happened last night?"

"Thought it was pretty self-explanatory."

He gave her a look. "Babe."

"Ranger." They had been in the truck, staring at an empty house, for two hours. In complete silence. This was how he decided to start a conversation. She threw up her hands. "I'm not discussing this. We're on a stakeout. We're working."

Ranger just shrugged and turned back to look out the windshield.

What was she supposed to say anyway? _See, I wanted to decrease the tension and stop you from applying pressure. So I climbed on top of you._

It had been a good plan. A solid, well thought out plan.

What the fuck was she even saying? It had been nothing of the sort. It had been her traitorous hormones thinking she could control Batman.

And it had backfired. Boy had it ever backfired. Big time.

Oh the whole, get-Ranger-to-back-off part of the plan had worked. He hadn't seemed to care when she left last night, and he hadn't said anything today, except for that one question. No innuendos, no kisses, no touches…nothing.

She had never been one for thinking a plan all the way through.

So here she was, sitting beside him. She could hear him breathing. She could smell the Bulgari. And she wanted him. Bad. And he had backed off.

She wasn't even aware she was fidgeting until he clamped a hand down on her thigh to make her stop.

"Babe. It's not going to make the time pass faster."

She ignored his words, focusing instead on the warmth from this hand that was seeping up her leg. His hand was awfully high. She studied it for a moment. If she slid down just a bit in her seat, maybe his hand would slide up just enough…

Ahh! She was supposed to working, here. She focused her eyes out the front windshield and pictured her grandmother at the last viewing she had gone too. It had been the funeral of an old Mob soldier, Mario De Luca. Grandma had wanted to catch the eye of De Luca's little brother. The brother was 92 and half blind, so Grandma had dressed extra bright. Hot pink bright, from her skin tight dress to her three inch heels.

Steph took a deep breath, focusing on the mental image. It was working. It was hard for hormones to remain active in the face of Grandma Mazur's soup-chicken body covered in hot pink. She had it under control.

And then Ranger's thumb started moving in little circles on her upper thigh.

Fuck, this was going to be a long night.

Ranger sighed. His hand clamped on her thigh had stopped her fidgeting.

Thank god.

Two hours, they had sat in silence while she fidgeted. He couldn't take much more of it.

It was bad enough that he had to sit here and pretend to be unaffected by her presence. He couldn't hide his reaction to her damn wiggling.

And what the hell was going on with her? Self-explanatory? Twelve hours after telling him that she was perfectly happy with her boyfriend, she showed up at his doorstep dressed like that and fucked his brains out. Only in the world of Stephanie Plum could that be self-explanatory.

He looked down at his hand and realized his thumb was drawing little lazy circles on her inner thigh. He looked up at and saw Steph staring at his hand like it was an enemy soldier about to attack.

She looked up and met his eyes, and quickly turned her head back to the front. She swallowed hard and held her body rigidly still.

Ranger sighed. He wasn't usually the type to sigh. But Stephanie brought out all sorts of things in him.

He squeezed her thigh, just to see her reaction. She jumped.

He sighed, again, and picked up his phone. He dialed the control room. "Need someone to relieve us for a few minutes."

Steph's head snapped around to stare at him, but he ignored her.

Ten silent, tense minutes later headlights flashed behind them. Ranger started the truck and pulled out, driving to the 7-11.

Steph was staring at him with those big blue eyes. He pulled a ten-dollar bill out of his wallet and handed it to her.

"Sugar. Go. Buy some."

She stared at him for another minute, and then grabbed the money and launched herself out of the truck and dashed inside.

Ranger leaned back against the headrest and closed his eyes, trying to gain some form of control back. He and Steph should probably talk. He didn't have a clue what could possibly be going through her head. To be honest, he was hesitant to find out. Keeping up with Steph's thought process was rarely easy, and even less often was it productive.

Why hadn't he gotten someone to cover this shift? He opened his eyes to look at the clock. 12:42 am. They still had over an hour. He wasn't going to make it another ten minutes with her fidgeting, let alone an hour.

He was cocky, that's why he hadn't had someone else take this shift. No way was he going to let a woman change his plans and make him unable to do his job. Not the great Ranger Manoso. Besides, he had slept with Steph once before, and been able to work with her again. But that was sweet, shy, innocent Steph. Aggressive Steph was something else entirely. Something he had to have again.

He had told her a while ago to get her balls back from Morelli. Guess she had. Wasn't _quite_ the use he had in mind, but who was he to complain?

He opened his eyes again as Steph climbed back in the truck, a bag of sugary goodness in hand.

"Thanks."

He just nodded. He straightened up and started the truck.

"Are you tired?" she asked, concern in her voice.

He just raised an eyebrow at her.

She flushed dark red.

He had to grin. She showed up his door without panties, and now she was embarrassed about keeping him up late. Only Steph.

He headed back for the house they had been watching. He flashed his lights at the other truck, and it pulled out.

Steph started in on the sweets she had bought. He watched in amazement as she put away two Butterscotch Krimpets, a Chocolate Junior, and a cream filled cupcake. Shit, she was going to go into a diabetic coma.

Maybe that was a good thing. She wouldn't be able to stare at him with those blue eyes he could get lost in, pouty lips just begging to be kissed, that spot on her porcelain throat that always made her moan…

Fuck. He grabbed the other Chocolate Junior. Maybe she was on to something.

He ate the whole thing before meeting Steph's questioning gaze.

"You're eating sugar."

"Body's not a temple today." Yesterday was a temple day. There were definitely parts of his body she had worshiped.

She just shrugged and settled back in her seat with a contended little sigh. Good, the sugar was taking effect. Steph's hormones could always be quelled with sugar. At least this way, she wouldn't jump him again.

An hour later, their relief finally arrived. Ranger stepped out of the truck to tell the guys there had been no activity, before jumping back in and making a U-turn, heading back toward the Burg.

"Where am I taking you?" he asked.

"What?"

The sugar had definitely done the trick. "Your apartment or Morelli's?"

She flushed red again before speaking. "My apartment please."

He pondered her red face for a minute. Must be guilt. She hadn't acted guilty last night. Steph always felt guilty. And Steph didn't cheat. Ever. Something was going on here.

He pulled into the lot and turned off the truck. "I'll check your apartment," he said when she gave him a questioning look.

She bit down on her lower lip. "Um, okay, thanks."

Ranger had to restrain himself from groaning out load. The flushed face, the inadvertently sexual gesture and shy tone of voice was mingling with the images in his mind of her actions the night before.

Just check her apartment and get out…check her apartment and get out. Maybe if he kept repeating that he'd be able to follow the orders.

He could just give her a gun and have her check her own apartment. She had to learn sometime…he quickly dismissed the thought and came around the truck to get Steph. She was still sitting in the truck, staring straight ahead, fiddling with the bag of sweets.

"Come on, Babe."

She jumped at the sound of his voice, blushing again, and climbed down.

"You okay, babe?"

"Yeah, yeah, fine."

She walked ahead of him and climbed into the elevator. He took the stairs, and checked her apartment. He heard Steph come in while he was in her room. He came out to find her leaning on the kitchen counter awkwardly.

"Well, I'm beat. I'm gonna run through the shower and crash. I'll see you later?"

She headed for the bathroom without even waiting for his answer. He heard the locks click on the bathroom door. Those locks wouldn't stop him, but he got the hint.

He headed for the front door, intent on going home. He stopped when he heard the water flip on. Pictures of naked Stephanie flipped through his mind. Without even realizing what he was doing he turned and headed for the bathroom.

Stop! Turn around, he ordered himself. He had an obscene amount of self control. He could force his mind and body to do anything. He had been tortured for information without even flinching. He could turn and walk out of this apartment. No problem.

He straightened his back, turned and headed for the door. He reached his hand into his pocket to get his keys, and froze when his fingers brushed lace. He had grabbed the panties and bra, intending to give them back to Steph. Unbidden, her image swam before his eyes. Standing in his doorway with just the thigh-highs and bra…

Fuck. He walked over to the bathroom door.

Steph quickly blow dried her hair, hoping that would stop it from turning Don King overnight. She wrapped herself in a towel and opened the door.

She let out a startled squeal when she almost walked into Ranger. He was standing with both hands propped up on the door frame above them.

"Jesus, I thought you left," she said, pressing a hand over her pounding chest. The lust that had re-ignited at the sight of him wasn't helping her calm down. She had toyed with the idea of using the shower massager while she had been in there, but it didn't have much appeal. When Ranger had warned her he would ruin her for all other men, he should have added a few things to that list – men, shower massagers, vibrators, most fantasies… There wasn't much that measured up. Who was she kidding? Nothing was going to measure up. She was screwed. She was never going to have another orgasm in her life, unless it was with Ranger.

"Babe."

She slowly lifted her flushed face to meet his smirk.

"What's going on with you and Morelli?"

"What? Didn't we have this conversation yesterday?" She ducked under his arm and walked into her bedroom. She grabbed and pair of panties and a tee-shirt. Without glancing back at Ranger, she pulled the shirt on over the towel. She was pretty sure she managed to get the towel off and the panties on without flashing him.

She turned back to face him. He was still patiently waiting for an answer. She needed a diversion.

"Ranger, I'm really not comfortable discussing my and Joe's relationship with you."

He just raised and eyebrow. She could feel her face heat up. Again.

"If you're not careful, you're face is going to stay that shade of red."

Steph snorted and walked past him into the living room.

She had just got to the couch when a knock sounded on the door. Steph sank down onto the couch and let of a huge sigh of relief. A diversion.

Ranger walked to the door, gun drawn. Steph couldn't see or hear what was going on, but a second later, he walked back into the living room followed by none other than Joe Morelli.

"Joe! What are you doing here?"

Joe looked from Ranger to Stephanie and raised an eyebrow.

"What am _I _doing here? What is Manoso doing here?"

"Are you drunk?"

"No, I'm not drunk." he said, swaying a bit on his feet. "Well maybe just a little." He lifted his hand to show just how little between his thumb and finger.

Steph stood and walked toward him. "What are you doing here Joe?"

"Are you wearing his shirt?"

Steph looked down. Shit. She had grabbed one of the tee shirts she had stolen from Ranger's to put on and hadn't even noticed. She looked up at Ranger. He was smirking at Joe. One of those alpha male smirks that clearly said, 'I've been with your woman.' Joe was giving his best 'back the fuck off' glare. This wasn't going to end well.

"This is ridiculous. Both of you need to leave before you both do something stupid."

Joe spoke up first, his voice fast going from slurred to furious. "You and I have some things to discuss, Cupcake. I'm not going anywhere."

"I was just leaving anyway," Ranger said. He sounded completely calm, but there was tension around his eyes. He walked up to Steph and kissed her on the cheek. "Later, Babe." And with another smirk at Joe, he was gone.

Joe rounded on her the second the door closed behind Ranger. "You said there was nothing going on, Stephanie. Is this why you turned me down, to be with Rambo?"

"There is nothing going on, Joe. Ranger and I are friends. And it doesn't matter what I do. We're not together anymore, remember?" 

"Steph, I love you, I want us to get married. If you want to wait, that's fine. We'll wait. But I want you back. I'm willing to give you another chance."

"You what?" Maybe she had heard wrong and he really didn't just say that.

"I'm willing to take you back." he said again, looking for all purposes like he was God's gift to women.

"Oh my God, you're just so incredibly self-righteous." Did nothing pass through that thick skull of his?

"Cupcake?" he actually had the nerve to look confused. "I'm saying that we can get back together. We can still get married."

"Joe, what part of 'I don't want to marry you' didn't you get? It's over. Get out. Go home and sober up."

She grabbed his arms and turned his body, steering him back toward the door. "You're drunk, Joe. Go home. Should I call Eddie to come give you a ride?"

"No. I'm fine. I'll go, Steph, but don't think I'm going to take you back if you hook up with Rambo."

She pushed him further out the door and shut it, locking it behind him. "Don't worry, that won't be a problem," she muttered. She headed for the couch, but decided to take a last minute detour to the freezer. Ben and Jerry were calling her name. She eyed the empty 7-11 bag on the counter, full of empty Tasty Cake wrappers. But it had been a long night. She'd had a hot Ranger and drunk Joe in her apartment at the same time. That deserved Ben and Jerry's.

Ranger climbed in the truck and started it, but he didn't pull out. His eyes were trained on the windows in Steph's apartment, waiting for the bedroom light to flip on. He had never been jealous before Steph came into the picture. Nowadays he found himself being jealous more and more. Of the cop, of Rex who got to be close to her all the time, of the spoon she licked clean when she ate ice cream... Holy shit, he had to stop thinking like that.

What he really wanted to do was go back up and beat the shit out of the cop. He had heard the yelling as he left. They were probably fighting. Granted if Steph had been his girlfriend and he had found Joe in her apartment at three in the morning, they'd probably been fighting too. No, he corrected himself – he would have just kicked Joe's ass. Maybe put a bullet in it for good measure.

He sat up straight when he saw Joe come flying out of the building. Joe's car door slammed, and he peeled out of the parking lot.

Guess the fight didn't go so well. Shit, she was probably upset. He should probably go check on her. Yeah, that was a good excuse. But he needed some answers before he went back up there. He pulled out his phone and pressed speed dial #2.

"Talk," Tank said.

"Hey, what's the word on the street about Steph and Joe?"

There was a pause. "It's three o'clock in the fucking morning, and you want to know the gossip on Stephanie?"

"Just tell me, Tank."

There was another pause, and Ranger could hear a sleepy female voice in the background. "The cop proposed," Tank finally said.

Ranger went perfectly still and drew in a breath.

"So they're engaged?" What the hell had she been doing if she was engaged to the cop? One last wild fling before wedded bliss? 

He could hear Tank still talking to Lula. He came back a second later. "According to Lula, the Cop proposed, but Steph's not answering her phone. But there was no news of a break-up."

"Lula hasn't talked to Steph?"

"No, but apparently Steph was in the office yesterday, talking about a special occasion with Joe. That's the last time Lula talked to her."

"Thanks. Sorry to wake you guys up, man."

"It's fine. You gonna go get your girl, or are you gonna keep being a pussy?"

"Fuck off, Tank." He hung up and stared at the building for another minute.

He turned off the car and headed back upstairs. He needed answers. And this time, he wasn't leaving until he knew what the hell was going through Steph's head.

He found her on the couch, eating Ben and Jerry's, and crying. There was nothing he hated more than to see her cry. When those huge blue eyes turned all sad and filled with tears, he felt so powerless. He'd gladly give up his right arm for her to never cry again. Well, maybe not the arm. It would be kind of hard to be international man of mystery with only one arm. But he'd gladly give a lot.

Reaching Steph he sat down beside her and pulled her in for a hug.

"Trouble in paradise?"

She snorted. "No, it's fine."

"What's going on with you two?"

"Huh? What?"

Ranger sighed. This was going to take some persuasion. He leaned down and blew gently in her ear and kissed the shell. He waited until she shivered, and then asked again, his voice low and husky.

"What's going on with you two?"

"We – we're, uh, fine."

He leaned down and kissed her neck, biting gently. She moaned.

"Why did you come over to my apartment yesterday?"

"Wasn't that obvious?"

Ranger took a deep breath. This wasn't getting him anywhere. He needed to step it up a notch. He had been thoroughly trained in interrogation techniques. He could handle one little white girl with a secret.

He pulled her up so that she was laying on top of him. He gently wiped away her tears and kissed her cheek. She smiled and snuggled into him, resting her head against his chest. He rubbed her back until he was sure she was just about to doze off. Lull the enemy into a false sense of security, and then pounce.

"Why were you crying, Babe?"

She answered in a sleepy voice. "Cause Joe's a jerk and you left."

Ranger stiffened up. Shit. He slid his hands under her shirt and rubbed her back, skin to skin. She shivered. He pressed a kiss into her hair before speaking again.

"What's going on with you this week, Steph?"

She sounded more awake, more alert when she answered. "Nothing." She pressed herself more firmly into his body. "What's up with you?"

Ranger chuckled. With her body so close the answer was obvious. He quickly flipped them both over so she was pinned to the couch. He grabbed both her wrists and held them high over her head, trapping her between the couch and his hard body. His lips were mere inches from hers and she could feel his desire pressed against her own center. She gasped as he gently grazed her jaw line with his teeth. He smiled smugly at her response and did it once more before speaking.

"Nice try, Babe. Now are you going to start being honest with me?"

Deciding she could play the game just as well as he, she wiggled a bit under him. Arching her back, she pressed her breasts against him, letting him feel how hard her nipples were through the thin layers of clothing.

"No. Are you going to keep trying to make me?" she asked while grounding her hips up against Ranger.

His grip on her wrists turned almost painful and he groaned when she pressed herself more firmly to him.

"I know what you're doing Babe," he ground out. "But I'm not that easily distracted."

He leaned down and pressed small kisses to the side of her neck. "Start talking Babe."

Instead of talking, she put her mouth to better use, and kissed him. Slowly Ranger released her wrists, and brought his hands down to fist her hair. The kiss that had started out tentative, soon turned fierce and deep. Tongues battling each other and hands roaming. Stephanie felt the effects of the kiss deep in her belly, heat pooling there.

Ranger broke the kiss and pulled back just far enough to pepper her face with kisses. When he started talking again, his voice was a bit more breathless. "Explain, Babe. I wanna know what's going on."

Instead of answering, she reached down between their bodies and stroked Ranger's hard length over his cargos. He growled against her mouth. She kept up the motion, and within a few minutes, Ranger growled again and got up from the couch with efficient moves, picking Steph up at the same time. He carried her into her bedroom and unceremoniously threw her onto the bed in a you-asked-for-it-so-now-you're-getting-it gesture.

Grabbing the hem of her (or rather his) t-shirt, he pulled it over her head and immediately sucked a hard nipple into his mouth. He rolled the other between his fingers, making her whimper.

Pausing, Ranger had them both naked in a matter of seconds. He pushed her down to lie on her back and pulled her legs far apart, her wet center displayed for him to see. Feeling a bit self-conscious about her vulnerable position, Steph tried to close her legs but quickly changed her mind as Ranger lowered his mouth to her. Raw desire threatened to consume her whole and she threw her head back, offering herself to him.

Using the flat of his tongue, he lapped at her acing core. Submitting herself completely to his touch, Steph arched her back, begging for more. Complying, he used the tip of his tongue to tease her already throbbing clit, making her moan with pleasure. His tongue felt wonderful on her sensitive clit, and she drew in a sharp breath as he roughly shoved two fingers inside of her. He found her g-spot and she all but screamed at the intense feeling. Between his teeth scraping her clit and his talented fingers manipulating her g-spot, he had her trashing on the bed in a matter of minutes. She was rapidly approaching orgasm and she felt the tell tale tightening in her lower abdomen. Ranger felt it too and doubled his efforts. Fisting her hands in his hair, Steph didn't know if she wanted to press him harder against her, or pull him away so the pleasure would be less intense.

A blistering heat spread through her body and seconds later the orgasm hit her, sending her body into a world of passion. Jolts of pleasure coursed through her body, shaking her to the core as she spasmed on Ranger's tongue.

As she came down from the climax, Ranger didn't give her any time breathe before positioning himself between her legs and entering her with one hard stroke. Leaning down to take one pebbled nipple into his mouth, he kept up deep, hard strokes fuelled by raw desire.

Moving with him, Stephanie answered in like. Already sensitive, it didn't take long before Steph felt another orgasm start to build. She raked her nails down Ranger's back and felt him increase his pace. He growled and grabbed her wrists, once again pinning them above her head. The feeling of being at his mercy only enhanced her desire and she felt the climax hit her hard. She arched her back and automatically closed her eyes.

"No, open your eyes. Look at me when you come." Ranger said, his voice rough with lust and desire.

Making a huge effort, she opened her eyes, locking them with Ranger's midnight black ones. Her normally blue eye's dilated almost black, lust and pleasure shining in them as the orgasm wracked her body. Her body throbbed and burned, liquid fire running in her veins. The climax rushed over her in waves of pleasure, making her vibrate and shake.

With a few last strokes, Ranger came deep inside of her, finally allowing her to slowly come down from the peak.

They lay together on the bed, completely satisfied, and allowed their breathing to become normal again. Steph had just regained the ability to think when she started to panic. She relaxed when she heard Ranger's pager go off. Thank god. He groaned and dropped his head onto her shoulder. He picked it up off the nightstand and glanced at it.

"It's the control room, babe, an emergency. I have to go."

"What'd you come back upstairs for anyway?" she asked as he started to get dressed.

Ranger looked sheepish. She had never seen him looks sheepish before. He was always in control, and his plans _always_ worked.

"I thought I could get some answers out of you. Guess I don't have as much control as I thought."

Steph was still laughing when Ranger finished dressing and came over to where she was laying on the bed. He leaned over her, placing his hands on either side of her head to brace himself.

"Don't laugh babe, you didn't have much control either." He gave her a quick kiss. "Later, Babe."

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_Please review…more soon!_


	3. Chapter 3

_This story is a collaborative effort between haleigh.l and Lintu68. None of the characters belong to us, and we make no profit. Rating for language and serious smut_

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Steph's apartment sparkled. Nothing like taking out some sexual frustration with a mop and a dust rag. Her laundry was done, folded, and put away. Her kitchen was mopped and scrubbed to perfection. Rex had clean shavings and a new soup can. All was well in the Plum household.

As long as you didn't take into account Stephanie's sanity, of course.

She was never again going to make a plan. Plans were useless. She was a fly-by-the-seat-of-her-pants kind of gal, and would stay that way.

She had no idea what to do about Ranger now. Except avoid him of course. She could probably avoid him for a while. Did that count as making a plan? He hadn't called or stopped by all day. Not that she expected him to, of course. Her goal had been to make him back off. So she was glad that she'd had all day Sunday by herself to clean.

Finally, with nothing left to clean, Steph grabbed a bottle of wine and a glass and plopped down on the couch. This sucked. It was only eight o'clock, too early to go to bed, even if she did already have her pajamas on. She should call Ranger, see if he wanted to come over and do something. Something…right. She'd end up in bed with him, and he'd leave, and they'd start this whole thing over again.

That's what she had been trying to avoid!

With another big sigh, she poured another glass of wine, flipped on Ghostbusters and settled in. She'd just have to invest in a new shower massager. One of those big ones with five different speeds. Maybe she could find a mocha-latte colored one. With instructions in Spanish. They sell those, right?

Ranger pulled into Steph's lot and stared. He had spent a lot of time this weekend just staring up at her apartment. He was losing his mind, that's what was happening. She was engaged to another man, for Christ sake.

But he couldn't get the past two nights out of his head. He should walk away. Let her work it out with Joe and stop applying pressure. That was the gentlemanly thing to do here.

But he still wanted answers, and he still hadn't gotten them. He flipped off the car and headed up the steps.

He surveyed the scene when he opened the door, and couldn't help the laughter. The apartment was cleaner than he had ever seen it. The credits were rolling on Ghostbusters, and Steph was asleep on the couch. An empty glass and a half-empty bottle of wine were on the coffee table.

Ranger walked over to the couch. He lifted her up a bit, and then sat, settling her against him. He slid his arm around her waist, his fingers coming up to brush bare skin under her pajama top. He started drawing little circles on her skin, and could feel her start to wake up.

"Ranger?" she asked in a sleepy voice.

He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her hair before whispering. "Hi Babe."

She smiled and leaned into him, while his fingers kept running over her stomach. After a minute she tensed up.

"Uh uh, Ranger. You don't get to touch me anymore." The words were slurred. She tried to sit up, but didn't make it.

"Cause of Joe?" he asked. 

"Nope. Cause you backed off." Well, he was getting answers. But drunk Stephanie was even more confusing than sober Stephanie, and he was no closer to figuring out what was going through her head.

"I did?"

"Yep. You had me. Now you're done."

"Babe. How much wine have you had?"

"Just three glasses. I'm not drunk."

He chuckled. "I think you are, babe. You're spilling secrets over here."

"No way. Nuh uh. I don't tell secrets. I had a plan, and it's a secret one."

"You had a plan?"

"Yep. Operation 'Stop-Ranger-from-applying-pressure.' It's a secret plan. But it didn't work."

Ranger was trying to stop from laughing, though he still had no idea what she was talking about. "What did you think would happen?"

"Last time we slept together, you backed off for a while and stopped applying pressure. So I thought I'd 'pre-empt' you. But you can't tell. It's a secret."

He couldn't hold in the chuckles anymore. That's what the seduction scene had been about. "Babe. That was a terrible plan."

"I know!" she wailed. "I'm never going to have another orgasm for the rest of my life!"

Ranger was still laughing. He would have been more worried about this plan of hers if she weren't drunk and whining. He leaned down to kiss her again. When he spoke, his voice was low and husky. "Did I ruin you for all other men?"

"Yeah. And for a few other things. Wanna ruin me again before you pull back?"

He was silent for a moment, just running his fingers through her hair. "You still didn't explain why you started this whole plan."

He could tell the wine was loosening her lips when she answered without hesitation.

"Because I knew if you kept applying pressure that I'd fall even more in love with you, and it would break my heart when you pulled back from me. I thought if I were in control, I could handle it. It didn't really work out."

His heart stopped for a second at her words. He swallowed heard and kept going. "What if I don't want to pull back from you this time?"

She giggled and elbowed him in the ribs. "Don't be silly. I know you. You're Batman. A lone wolf. You want to pull back."

His voice was whisper soft and thick when he spoke again. "What if I can't?"

She rolled her eyes. "Again, you're Batman. You can do anything. All that iron-clad self control. You never lose control."

The moment was gone. He took a deep breath to relax and chuckled. "Babe. I'm pretty sure we found out last night that my control snaps pretty quickly around you."

"Nope. I need another lesson." Her words were still slurring. She was trying to get up to her knees to straddle him, but wasn't making it.

"Babe. You're drunk. And we're not doing this."

"Come on, Big Boy. Make love to me."

"Don't call me Big Boy."

"Okay, Come on, Cuban Sex God…"

"Babe. We're not doing this. You're drunk. And you don't belong to me."

She looked him straight in the eyes with a clarity that surprised him. She moved her hands to his chest and her voice lowered. "Then make me yours."

Ranger felt his pants tighten at her words. The playful atmosphere had change to palpable sexual tension in a matter of seconds.

Seeing the lust in his eyes, Steph felt a moment of hesitation. What had she gotten herself into? She unconsciously licked her lips, trying to moisten them, and Ranger's eyes were riveted to her mouth.

Ranger stood up in front of her where she was sitting on the couch. Slowly he reached down and grabbed the hem of her pajama top. She raised her arms and he pulled it off, never breaking eye contact. He trailed his fingers down from her hands, down her arms to the sides of her breasts. The caress was ever so light, causing Steph's skin to break into goose bumps, her nipples pebbled. Splaying his hands wide on her stomach, he moved his hands lower. She raised her hips up from the couch, helping him to remove her pajama bottoms. He kneeled on the floor in front of her. Again he started from her waist and slowly trailed his fingers down to the inside of her thighs, to her knees and down to her calves.

Sitting completely naked on the couch, having Ranger completely clothed sitting by her feet proved to be an incredible turn on. The alcohol in her body made everything feel slightly unreal.

Ranger slowly pressed kisses to her calf, kissing his way up. As he reached the underside of her knee, Steph leaned her head back on the couch and let her lust and desire grow with the wonderful things he was doing to her. By the time he reached her inner thigh, her breathing had turned ragged and she was arching her back, his lips sending jolts of excitement to her center.

Moving to her upper body, Ranger kissed her belly button and trailed his tongue up to her breasts. He paid her sensitive nipples extra attention and she briefly considered touching herself to help with the ache of her throbbing clit.

She was squirming, practically begging for some attention to her core, and he finally took pity on her. Agonizingly slowly he circled her clit with one finger causing a fresh flood of juices to provide him with lubricant. Gasping at the desire she was feeling, she had a brief moment of wonder at how he could have her all but begging for release without even getting undressed.

Keeping up the wonderful torture to her clit, he moved up and kissed her neck. Lightly grazing it with his teeth, he sent shivers down her spine. She fisted her hands in his hair and pressed his mouth more firmly onto her neck. She desperately needed more contact, more pleasure. Sinking his teeth into her neck, he sucked hard, for the world marking her as his.

She drew a sharp breath as shocks of pleasure ran straight to her core. He pinched her clit roughly while marking her and the orgasm hit her fast and unexpectedly. She cried out in surprise and passion, grabbing at Ranger, trying to hold on to something. The alcohol in her blood made her dizzy as the shocks jerked her body, making the feeling all the more intense.

Aftershocks shook her body as she lounged, half-sitting, half-lying on the couch. She was breathing heavily, trying to calm down from the climax. Ranger stood in front of her and undressed. Steph's eyes grew big and shocked when she realized that they were far from finished.

She watched with amazement as all of him became visible. What a magnificent body that man had. Without even realizing she had done it, she sat up and gave the tip of his penis a small kiss. Ranger growled and pounced down on her, catching her between the couch and his rock hard body.

"It's not nice to tease Babe."

Giggling, she arched her back, rubbing herself against him, causing him to groan. "I never said I was nice."

Growling again, Ranger placed himself at her entrance and entered her, making her gasp at the intrusion. Pausing to allow both of them to pull themselves together, Ranger kissed the mark he had placed on her neck.

Slowly he started to move again, picking up the pace until Steph was moaning and writhing, ready to come for the second time. Keeping up the pace, Ranger kissed her below her ear, grazing the sensitive skin with his teeth, making her draw a sharp breath as the pleasure intensified. Feeling her grow closer, Ranger reached down and rubbed her clit between his fingers.

Digging her fingers into his back, Steph screamed as the climax washed over her, electric jolts shaking her body. Feeling her pulsate around him, Ranger couldn't hold on anymore and emptied himself inside of her. Together they rode out the climax and lay completely spent on the couch afterwards. Steph was feeling happy and mellow from the orgasms and the alcohol in her blood.

"Jesus Christ, Babe," he said, his voice ragged and breathing rough, "if you weren't engaged to another man, I'd say to hell with my no-relationships policy and drag you off to the Batcave."

"Oh so you'd go all caveman on me and…" She sat straight up. "Wait, what?? What do you mean, engaged?"

"I heard Joe proposed. And Lula said you two had a special occasion."

"Ugghh!" She flopped back down on the couch and rubbed her face with her hands. "Damn grapevine. Joe did propose. I said no. He was unhappy about that so we broke up. For good. Though he did offer last night to forgive me and take me back. Bastard. And the special occasion was me seducing you. I was lying to the girls so it wouldn't get spread around."

Ranger laughed, reaching an arm around her to pull her tight against him. "Another terrible plan. We have to work on this, babe."

She blew out a breath. "Yeah."

They were quiet for a minute. She was content, being held against him, with Ranger rubbing her arm.

He leaned down and kissed her neck. "So you're not marrying Morelli?"

She turned to look him in the eye. "Nope. I'm all yours, Big Boy."

"Don't call me Big Boy." His tone was teasing, but she could see the intensity in his eyes.

"You gonna punish me? Throw me over your shoulder and lock me away in the Batcave?"

He smiled, all 200 watts, and leaned down to kiss her softly. "Nah. I'll do that tomorrow night when you're sober."

She squealed and jumped up, wobbling a bit before she got her footing. "I am sober! I can go now."

"Babe. You're about to pass out."

"Nope! I just need the cure." She grabbed her pajamas and stuffed herself back into them. She lunged for Ranger's keys and was half way to the door before he caught up.

"Whoa there, tiger," he said, grabbing her around the waist with both arms. "Where you headed?"

"The Batcave! We just need to stop at McDonald's and I'm good. We can go now."

Ranger laughed. "Can we wait until I get dressed, or do you want me to go like this?"

She took a step back and eyed him up and down. He was still naked, and magnificent. "As much as I love seeing you like this, you should get dressed. I'm pretty sure walking around like that is a threat to national security."

He laughed and pulled her against him, kissing her hard. When he let go, Steph swayed a bit on her feet.

He shook his head and grabbed his clothes.

Steph was so excited she was almost bouncing waiting for him. The Batcave. With Ranger. Maybe her plan worked after all.

They headed out to the truck, and Ranger drove straight to McDonald's. They were 15 minutes from closing, but made fresh fries without too much cajoling.

She ate the fries and sucked down the coke while Ranger drove in his zone. She was trying to see where they were going, but within minutes of finishing her cure, she was out cold.

Ranger looked over to Steph, knowing she was close to passing out, cure or not. When he pulled up to the house, she didn't even move. He shook his head, and came around to the passenger side to lift her out. He carried her inside and set her on his bed.

He stared at her and shook his head again. A pre-emptive strike. Only Stephanie Plum. His life would never be the same.

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_Finis…_


	4. Chapter 4

_A collaborative effort between haleigh.l and lintu68 - rating for language and smut - both are present in spades, thank god. We are making on profit, and all characters will be returned, if a bit sore and flustered._

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Stephanie woke slowly and rolled over, grinning. Ohhh, the Batcave. She felt around on the sheets. That's funny, they weren't as soft as the one Ranger had in the apartment. He must not sleep here that often.

She rolled to her left, luxuriating in the wide, king-size mattress…her eyes shot open when she landed with a _thump_ on the hard floor. She looked up…confused to see what looked like a table above her. She heard two additional thumps, one heavier than the other.

How did she roll under a table?

She tried to move, but was wrapped up awkwardly in a blanket. After some amount of struggling, she managed to unwrap herself enough to squirm out from under the table and stand. She looked around….

…at her apartment.

She had fallen asleep on the couch, and when she had woke, she had fallen off and rolled partially under her cheap faux-wood coffee table. The half empty bottle of wine had fallen off the table, the glass laying beside in on the carpet.

As Stephanie watched, the deep red liquid spread out from the bottle's opening, creating a slowly seeping circle.

"Fuck!" she screamed. The wine would stain, but she could care less about that. After all, that section of the carpet hadn't been replaced yet. Dillon wouldn't mind. But the Batcave…the dream…the sex…the fries!

"Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck!" she screamed again, pounding her hands on the carpet, giving in to an all out temper tantrum like she hadn't done since she was four years old.

"Babe."

She sat straight up and flipped around to the sound of his voice.

"It's only carpet. I can buy you some oxy-clean." His lips were no longer tilted in an almost-smile. No, he was full out grinning all 200 watts. He was mocking her.

Her eyes narrowed and she took in a sharp breath through her nose.

"Is that a mocking grin?"

"No. It's the grin of man who loves you, babe. Besides, you won't be living here that much longer anyway."

She smiled, took a deep breath, and stopped cursing him in her head. It hadn't all been a dream after all. He loved her, and he was taking her to the Batcave. Forever. Thank god.

She stood and walked over to where he was lounging in the chair that sat diagonally from the couch. She gave him a quick kiss and said, "Be right back."

She hurried to the bathroom and brushed her teeth and pulled back her hair. She was still a little confused but shrugged it off. She must have dreamed the part about them going to McDonald's. It didn't matter, he'd take her to Batcave later. Right now she had more important things to do.

Ranger sat and watched her walk out of the room, still smiling. She never disappointed. He had sat there for two hours, waiting for her to wake up. And he didn't understand why she reacted so violently to spilled wine. It wasn't like Morelli was going to let her keep living there now that they were officially engaged.

He supposed he should get around to congratulating her. He hadn't yet, what with all the fucking going on to distract him.

He was still surprised that Steph was so willing to cheat on Morelli. Where had that been all the times they had ended up staying together. He mentally shrugged. He didn't like it, but he'd take what he could get when it came to Stephanie. And if it meant that he and Morelli came to blows…well he could hold his own.

"Babe," he said as Steph came back into the room. She walked right up to him with a confident swagger, her hips swaying with each step. She stopped directly between his legs that were still sprawled.

He reflectively reach up and grabbed her hips tightly. He leaned forward and pressed a kiss into her belly before looking up to meet her eyes.

She smiled at him, and then dropped to her knees and kissed him hard. He was confused, but schooled it carefully. She was acting like she was entirely sure. Not the overly aggressive Steph of Friday night, but a confident Steph. He had been seeing all sorts of new sides of her this weekend, and he liked this one best. This was the Steph that was sure she had a place in his bed, in his heart, and wasn't afraid to take it.

As if to prove him right, Steph deepened the kiss until his head was spinning. Her scent and her touch made him dizzy with need and he felt every drop of his blood pool at his crotch. Steph grabbed the hem of his t-shirt and pulled it over his head, exposing his chest to her view. Leaning forward, she flicked her tongue over his nipple, feeling it instantly harden.

Ranger growled and pulled her up to straddle him in the chair. He didn't bother to control himself any longer and plunged his tongue into her willing mouth in a hungry kiss.

Threading his fingers into her hair, he pulled her mouth firmly against his and sucked her lower lip into his mouth. He grazed it with his teeth and Steph felt something resembling a mini-orgasm rush through her body.

Breathless, she broke the kiss.

"Take me to bed."

Ranger knew what she was asking and there was nothing he wanted more in the world right then. But she was still Morelli's. He didn't quite know what to do, and Steph seemed to catch on to his hesitance.

Leaning in closer, she ran her lips over the shell of his ear and whispered: "Take me to bed. Now."

He growled at the sensations her mouth was creating and realized he could care less about Morelli. Ranger slid one hand underneath her to support her, and stood up from the chair. He carried her into the bedroom and sank down on the bed with her.

They tore at each others' clothes, the need to feel skin on skin overpowering. Finally naked, Ranger pulled Stephanie into his lap on the bed, feeling her nipples press against his bare chest. He fisted his hands into her hair, kissing her deeply; their tongues battling, teeth scraping.

He moved his lips away from hers and she whimpered at the loss. Slowly he kissed his way along her jaw and down the side of her throat. Almost instinctively, she dropped her head back, exposing the line of her throat to him. His lips trailed down, stopping at the hollow at the base of her throat.

She moaned and leaned back further to expose her breast to him. He licked and kissed his way down the swell of her breast. His tongue darted out and swept across her nipple. She gasped at the sensation, her nipple instantly puckering, her hips grounding against him of their own accord.

Steph was desperate to feel him inside of her and sat up properly and placed both hands on Ranger's chest, pushing him down on the mattress. She straddled him slowly, enjoying the wonderful feeling on being stretched on his thick length.

Ranger's fingers dug into her hips as he tried to control himself. The urge to flip her over and fuck her hard and fast was almost overwhelming. Then she started to move on top of him and he forgot everything but her on his cock. She moved her hips in small circles as she was moving up and down. He felt her thigh muscles strain against his hips, and he felt her inner walls around him, hot and wet.

She moved in circles, pressing her clit against his pelvis bone with every circle. Her hands were on his chest, feeling the hot skin. His large hands around her waist, holding onto her, guiding her on his lap.

He watched as she sat on him, impaling herself on him, and he suddenly felt fiercely possessive about her. He needed to feel himself buried to the hilt in her; he needed to feel that she was his. He grabbed her and flipped them over, causing her to cry out in alarm. As soon as he was on top of her, he thrust into her hard and deep and she cried out again, this time with pleasure.

Grabbing his strong shoulders, Steph clung onto him as he thrust into her body with long hard strokes. Her body was responding to his every move and she could already feel her muscles tightening in anticipation.

Feeling the climax crash over her, Steph cried out at the pleasure coursing through her body. Ranger kept the pace steady and Steph felt like she was climbing higher and higher, the orgasm not wanting to let her out if its fierce grip. Her body shivered and trembled with the jolts of pleasure.

As the tremors from her orgasm finally faded, she suddenly felt Ranger come deep inside of her. Growling, he thrust a few times hard and fast into her, and to her surprise Steph felt a second orgasm envelope her body in its wonderful heat, causing her to throw her head back, screaming out her pleasure. Ranger's mouth came crashing down on hers, hungrily drinking up every last scream and whimper.

Afterwards, they lay together in her bed, breathless and exhausted.

"There was something different this time," Steph said, barely coherent. Her sated state was mixing with the alcohol to blur everything in her mind into one perfect moment.

"Yeah, babe." It was desperation. It was knowing just how badly he wanted her, and knowing that he couldn't have her. Knowing that this…whatever this was, was going to end soon. No matter how many times he made love to her, she was going to marry Morelli, and there wasn't a damn thing he could do to stop her.

She snuggled closer to him, resting her head on this chest. "Mmmn, I'm sleepy."

Ranger chuckled. "I'll bet."

"Do you have to go to work early?"

"Yeah."

"Can you sleep here with me, or do you need to go?"

"I'll stay, babe. Go to sleep."

"Are you going to take me to the Batcave tomorrow?" she asked, almost asleep.

Ranger chuckled. "Babe. I wasn't kidding when I said the Batcave was forever."

"But I want forever…" she trailed off.

"I noticed, Babe. Congratulations, by the way."

But she was already asleep.

He would have to find some way to stop her from marrying Morelli. He just needed a plan.

--------------------

Steph woke, alone, but a little less confused this time. She stretched slowly, loosening tight muscles. She hadn't had this much action since she had gone off sugar wile dating Joe. And really, there was just no comparing the two. She was sore in places that she didn't know she had.

But she was glad to be sore. So glad. She'd happily stay this sore the rest of her life if it meant continual access to those kinds of orgasms.

Stretching again, she finally stumbled out of bed and into the shower. Once again, she didn't even spare the shower massager a second glance. She had Ranger now.

She came back out of the shower and glanced at the clock. Shit. It was after eleven already. She decided to go over to her mom's for lunch, and get that out of the way. She needed to tell her she had broken up with Joe. Break it to her gently.

She pulled up to the neat duplex in the Burg five minutes before noon. Neither woman was standing at the door. Odd.

She walked in to find both women standing in the living room, her mother talking animatedly into the phone while Grandma stood over her shoulder shaking her head.

"She's been on the phone all morning," Grandma said to Stephanie. "She's telling people to go with yellow roses. I keep telling her that you won't want yellow, but she's not listening. You want peach, not yellow, right?"

Steph stood there for a minute. She blinked. "What?"

"For the wedding! Peach or yellow?"

"Who's wedding?"

Mrs. Plum said 'hold on, please' into the phone and clapped a hand over the receiver. "Stephanie Plum, don't play coy. We don't have time for that. Now, I thought we would go with yellow. We used peach when you married Dickie, and look how that turned out. And Joseph sent you the prettiest yellow roses for Valentine's Day. It seems the most appropriate."

"What?"

Mrs. Plum gave an Emmy-worthy eye roll. She started speaking again, using the same tone of voice you use with small retarded children. "When you and Joseph get married. Do you want peach…or do you want yellow?"

"Joe and I broke up." So much for breaking it to her gently.

"I'll call you back," Ellen said into the phone before hanging up. "Now Stephanie, you did no such thing. Now that you and Joseph are officially engaged, you need to start talking about your problems instead of walking away all the time. And I hope you're giving up that terrible little apartment of yours."

"Mom! I'm not getting married."

"I have the VFW hall booked for three months from Saturday. Tina at he Bridal Shoppe said she could get that same dress you chose last time in two months."

Stephanie threw her hands up into the air and walked into the kitchen. If her mother was going to keep going for a while, she might as well get some food. She found chicken salad and rolls from Giovichinni's set on the table and started in.

Grandma came in and sat beside her. "So, you finally gave up on the bounty hunter with the good package and settled for the cop, huh?"

"No Grandma. Joe and I broke up last week. We aren't getting married."

"For real this time?"

"For real."

"Well, you might want to go let your mother know. She has this thing half planned out."

"I'll give her a few more minutes to enjoy the delusion."

Grandma nodded. "That's nice of you."

A minute later the doorbell rang. She heard her mom hang up the phone and shuffle down the hallway. A minute later, she heard a familiar voice.

"I'm sorry to disturb you Mrs. Plum, but we've had a situation come up, and I need Stephanie."

Steph's mouth dropped open when she saw Ranger follow her mother into the dining room. Luckily, no chicken salad fell out.

"Can I steel you for a couple hours?" he asked. "I need some help."

Steph's heart stopped beating for a minute when he said he needed help, but then started pounding out of her chest.

She set down her sandwich and nodded. Before she was out of her chair, her mother started speaking.

"Did you congratulate Stephanie on her engagement?" Mrs. Plum asked Ranger.

"I did," he said with a smirk thrown at Steph. "But congratulations, again, Stephanie."

Steph knew her face was beat red. She opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out.

Grandma patted her on the hand. "Go on, dear. I'll try to talk some sense into your mother."

Steph followed Ranger to the door, her mother walking right behind them. As they started to leave, Steph turned around.

"Not a single wedding plan, mom. Not one."

Mrs. Plum just waved her hand at Steph. "Whatever you say, dear."

Steph groaned and followed Ranger to his SUV. She climbed into the passenger seat and dropped her head into her hands.

"She's done it. She's finally lost it."

Ranger smirked at her. "What's wrong? You want to be there when she plans the wedding?"

"Yeah, _that's_ the problem. I walk in and she immediately starts grilling me on whether I want yellow or peach. She wouldn't listen to a word I said!"

"Got to be honest, babe. I can't see you using yellow or peach."

"Thank you! At least someone around here gets me." She was going to have to do something about the grapevine. Maybe she could call Mary Lou and have her straighten everyone out. It was a good thing Ranger knew she and Joe were broken up. She couldn't imagine what would be going through his head right now if he thought she was still with Joe.

"So…" she said to Ranger. "You said you need me. Is this a 'I have to have you naked right now' kind of help or a 'I have a skip who likes short skirts' kind of help?"

"Both."

"Wow."

Ranger gave her his wolf smile. "Babe. I always need you naked."

Steph had to suppress the shiver caused by the hot flash.

"So…what's the skip?"

He smiled at her change of subject. "Guy's holed up in Philly. Likes college girls, likes 'em drunk, and likes to get violent."

"Ouch."

"Yeah. So we need to go down to Philly, go clubbing for a few nights, and see if we can draw him out that way."

"Uh, Ranger? You said this guy likes college girls. How will I even get his attention, let alone get him outside." It was one thing to grab a guy in a dive bar. It was totally another to try to get someone's attention when surrounded by hundreds of hot, drunk college girls.

"Babe. We just need to find him and follow him home."

"Then why are you taking me?"

"We need a reason to be in the club. This way we can look like a bunch of guys taking our girlfriends out for the night, rather than an extra set of bouncers."

Steph smiled. He just said 'girlfriend.' That was cute.

"So when are we going down there?"

"Tonight. We have a basic idea of where he goes, but we'll probably need several nights to find him. Thought we'd just stay down there."

"Why? Philly's only a half an hour away."

He gave her a 'don't question the way I work' look. "Babe. We need to be down there around 7 each evening to start hitting restaurants. I don't want to fight rush hour each day. And I don't want to drive back at 3 am after we finish each morning. Besides, I know how you feel about sleep and shopping in Philly."

She shrugged. Couldn't deny that. And her mind was spinning with all the possibilities of having Ranger to herself in a hotel…in a club…on the dance floor…

"I'm going to drop you at your apartment, so you can pack. You need to look young and hot. We can drop Rex and Mary Lou's on the way out of town, but you should probably let Morelli and Connie know you'll be out of town."

She nodded. She had no intention of calling Morelli, or 'that bastard' as she had taken to calling him in her head. But she did need to call Connie. "I have one skip that has to be brought in this week. He's been evading me."

Ranger nodded. "I'll grab the file. Cal and Ram can take him. Tell Connie if anything else urgent comes in to call my office."

When they go to Steph's apartment, Ranger walked up with her and checked it quickly. He grabbed the file and started to leave.

He stopped at the door, turned around, and walked quickly back toward her. He grabbed her and pulled her tight, plunging his tongue into her mouth in a fiercely possessive kiss, catching her off guard. She recovered quickly and kissed him back, moaning as she felt his tongue caress hers. He pressed her leg in between hers and she ground herself against it in a desperate attempt for more contact.

He threaded his fingers into her curls and used them to help him deepen the kiss further and she felt herself grow hot and moist. She was seriously considering ripping his clothes off and screwing his brains out right there on the floor, when he reluctantly broke the kiss.

Leaning his forehead against hers, he drew a ragged breath. "I'll be back in a few hours, babe."

And just as quickly as he had come back and kissed her, he was gone. Only this time she was in a serious state. Frighteningly serious.


	5. Chapter 5

_This story is a collaborative effort between haleigh.l and Lintu68. None of the characters belong to us, and we make no profit. Rating for language and serious smut_

--------------------------

Ranger tossed her bags in the back of the Cayenne and slammed shut the back hatch.

Steph raised her eyebrows. "This is a hundred thousand dollar car. You sure you want to be slamming doors around like that?"

Ranger stared at her for a minute. "Get. In. The. Car."

Steph uncrossed her arms, huffed, and stomped to the passenger side door. She got in, and slammed the door.

Ranger took a few calming breaths, and walked to the driver's side. He climbed in, slid the key into the ignition, and the engine turned over with a slight purr.

"I don't understand what you're so mad about. You said to look young and hot."

He cut his eyes over to her. She was wearing a denim mini skirt and a cropped t-shirt advertising some band. A solid four inches of her stomach showed. The skirt rode so low he wasn't sure she was wearing underwear. It was going to be a very long drive.

Stephanie sighed at his silence and crossed one fish-net clad leg over the other, allowing the lace at the top of the thigh-high to peek out.

Ranger closed his eyes for a second. He opened them and put the car in gear. "I just asked you to put on a sweatshirt for the drive. Or at least lose the fishnets. You're the one who got mad."

"It's 90 degrees outside. I'm not putting on a sweatshirt." She dropped her head back against the headrest. "Jesus, you sound like Morelli."

Ranger glared at her.

She lowered her voice to mimic Joe. "Don't walk around dressed like that, Cupcake. Don't let other men look at you, Cupcake. Don't hang out with Ranger, Stephanie, he looks at you like he wants you. Stay home and have babies, Cupcake."

Ranger looked at her at a red light. "You done?"

She rolled her eyes. "Yeah, I'm done. I'm still not putting on a sweatshirt."

Ranger merged onto Route 1, following the signs marked 'Central Phila.' A trucker passing them on the right braked so hard he swerved. Steph looked up when the trucker started blasting his air horn. She didn't need to be able to hear him. She could read his lips.

Ranger mumbled something and hit the gas, his 450-horsepower SUV easily outpacing the 18-wheeler. He looked over at Steph. Her face was bright red.

She crossed her arms. "It wasn't my fault."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Fine! I'll put on the damn sweatshirt. Happy?" She unbuckled her seat belt and launched herself over the middle console toward the back of the SUV, leaving her ass facing the windshield.

This time, it was an oncoming trucker who honked and swerved.

"Jesus Christ." Ranger grabbed the back of Steph's skirt, and yanked it down as far over her ass as it would go.

Steph yelped as his fingers brushed her crotch in the process. She looked at him over her shoulder and glared.

"Hurry up," he said. "I'm trying to prevent a pile-up."

She grabbed the sweatshirt from her bag and plopped back down in her seat. She yanked it over her head and tried to pull her arms through. Her head got stuck in the process.

Ranger barely resisted rolling his eyes as he reached over and pulled on the bottom half of the sweatshirt. Her head popped out, her hair now standing up in a static-ridden mess. He smiled.

"I don't know what the big deal is," she said. "I had on underwear. It's not like I was flashing anyone."

Ranger looked at her for a second. "You don't know why a man would react to a woman being in that position, wearing a thong and thigh-high fishnets?"

She didn't reply. He cut her eyes back to her. Her face was beat red again.

He looked back at the road, and was finally able to slip into his driving zone. He could still see the fishnets out of the corner of his eye, but the baggy sweatshirt and ruined hair softened the impact.

….

Stephanie walked around their suite at the Lowe's Hotel in downtown Philadelphia. She could see the Ben Franklin Bridge out one window, and the Walt Whitman bridge out another. It was a huge suite.

Directly out the main window, however, she could see the historic Philadelphia Courthouse in all it's glory, topped with Ben Franklin's statue. "Wow," she said, as she spun around, taking in the city skyline from every direction.

Ranger came up behind her, splaying his hands across her stomach. "Like it?"

"I love it. But I'm pretty sure that I could pay next month's rent with what this place is costing just for tonight."

Ranger smiled. "Yeah, but your apartment sucks." He stretched out in the recliner and flipped on the huge flat-screen TV. "We have about an hour before we need to leave if you want to fix your hair."

She glared, but her heart wasn't in it. She spun around the room again. Yeah, comparatively, her apartment sucked.

She walked into one of the bedrooms and jumped on to the bed, landing spread eagle across it. She yelled out 'woohoo!' when she realized she had landed on a thick down comforter, and that the sheets might actually be softer than Ranger's.

"I could get used to this."

Ranger stared blankly at the TV. He considered the idea after hearing Steph's ramblings. Shower her with nice things – expensive jewelry, nice hotels, exotic vacations. Show her all those things the cop could never afford…

He immediately dismissed the idea. Steph wasn't materialistic, and money would never win her over. If she cared about money, she would have come to him the first time he had handed her the keys to his Porsche. Instead, she had blown it up.

He heard the shower running while Steph got ready. Settling into the chair, he tried to figure out how, if money wouldn't work, he could win Steph away from the cop.

Some of the things she had with the cop, he could never offer. A cute little row house with a dog and two kids would never be in the picture. But he did have a nice house, and could offer her security. He didn't have a 9-5 job, but then again, neither did the cop. Morelli worked almost as many hours as he did when it came down to it.

Maybe that's all it would take. He could show Steph his house, make her dinner or something…show her that he could be a normal domestic guy too.

He looked up as she walked into the room. She spun around quickly.

"How do I look?" she said.

He stared at her for a second, and swallowed hard. He needed to get back to Trenton and put this ridiculous little plan into motion. He couldn't stand much more of seeing her like this without being able to touch her.

"Um, Ranger, do I look okay?"

He drug his eyes back to Steph's face. She was chewing on her lower lip, and looking nervous.

He couldn't help it. He reached out and grabbed her around the waist and drug her toward him until she was plastered all the way against his body. He leaned down and kissed the shell of her ear before whispering.

"You look phenomenal, babe."

She leaned up on her toes and kissed him softly on the lips. "Thanks."

He pulled her body closer to him and stared at her for a minute, before resting his forehead against hers. He closed his eyes and tried to get his control back. He was using every ounce of willpower he had to convince himself to step back and let go of her. It wasn't working.

She was still wearing the short mini-skirt and the short shirt. And the fish nets. If their skip was at the club, he'd be reeled in, no questions.

"Where are we going?" Steph asked. "And is anybody coming with us?"

"We're going to dinner alone, and then Lester and Bobby will be meeting us at the club. They're each bringing an, um, date."

Steph grinned. "Will they have a different date each night we're here?"

"I wouldn't be surprised if they have new dates an hour into this thing."

Steph grabbed his hand and headed toward the door. "Well lets get this show on the road. I'm starving."

Steph grinned as she took in the inside of the club. Ranger had been right. There were drunk, young college girls _everywhere_. She shook her head, and sauntered to the bar.

"Want a Tiki Nut?" the young bartender yelled.

"A what?" Steph yelled back.

The bartender rolled his eyes. He filled a drink, and handed her a huge, HUGE, pineapple shaped cup full of something.

"Five bucks," he said over the noise.

Steph handed him her money, and then jumped back as a girl in a very short skirt hopped onto the bar. The girl, who looked too young to even be inside the place, grabbed a bottle of taquila.

Steph watched in part horror, part amusement, as guys raced to the bar and stood there with their mouths open like turkeys in a rain storm. The girl on the bar screamed, and started pouring tequila down the guys throats.

"You want?" the girl yelled to Steph, holding out the bottle of liquor.

Steph just shook her head and stepped backwards quickly. She ran smack into someone and turned around to apologize, only to realize it was Ranger, and he was grinning ear-to-ear.

He leaned down so he could speak into her ear and be heard over the thumping top-40 music. "I forgot to tell you. Those are the two things that make this place memorable."

"What are?"

"The pineapple full of 151 Rum you're drinking, and the girls on bars pouring shots."

"This is 151?" she asked, yanking the straw out of her mouth.

Ranger grinned again and took the drink from her. "Yeah. You won't make it an hour if you keep drinking that." He set the drink down on the bar, and ordered two bottles of Yuengling. He handed one to Steph. "Here, drink this instead."

They made their way over to the booth that the guys had commandeered. All the booths had been filled when they had arrived, but oddly enough, it had taken Lester and Bobby less than a minute to conveniently 'find' an empty one.

"Where are your dates?" she asked the guys as she and Ranger sat down.

Lester pointed to one of the huge metal cages set on a riser in the middle of the dance floor. "There," he said.

Steph's mouth dropped open. There were four or five girls in the cage, all dancing. She looked around and saw at least 4 other cages, each full of girls. As she watched, girls would hop in or out, onto the dance floor, and then back into the cage.

"Guys aren't allowed in there," Ranger said, "so it's a convenient way to escape a creepy guy."

"Come on, Bomber," Lester said, "don't you want to climb in there with them?"

She looked skeptically at the cage, and then back at the guys. "That's going to be the easiest way to spot this guy, isn't it?"

Ranger nodded. "Yep."

Steph gulped down the rest of her beer, and plopped the empty bottle down on the table. "Okay. Let's do this."

Ranger sipped his beer, and scanned the club again. It was hard to see with the crush of people, but he had yet to spot their skip. They had one other guy, Manuel, at the door, who hadn't seen him yet either.

He looked back at the dance floor, his eyes instinctively searching out Stephanie. He watched as she climbed into a cage and started dancing. My god, she was stunning. She may have had ten years on the other girls, but those ten years had given her a confidence and grace that the college-aged girls couldn't even begin to imitate.

Manuel spoke over their ear piece that Anderson had entered the building. Ranger kept one eye on Steph as he searched the crowd for Anderson. He spotted him just as Anderson was walking toward the cage. Ranger caught Steph's eye, and she nodded. Good, she had seen him too.

Ranger, Lester and Bobby slowly started working their way inward through the crowd toward Anderson. He was standing still in the middle of the thumping dance floor, staring at Steph with unabashed admiration. She had caught his eyes, given him a come-hither look, and he was hooked. He never even noticed the three large, armed men surrounding him until Ranger's cuffs clicked over his wrists.

Ranger spoke low in Anderson's ear. "Don't make a scene. We're going to walk slowly outside."

Anderson glanced around at all the people who had yet to notice anything, and back at Steph. Finally, he nodded, and Bobby and Lester led him out of the club.

Ranger caught Lester's arm as they were walking past. "Take him back to Trenton and get him turned in tonight. Steph and I will be back in the morning."

Lester nodded, winked at the girl he had been dancing with, and disappeared into the crowd.

Ranger walked back toward the cage where Stephanie was still dancing. He crooked a finger at her to come down. She shook her head, gave him a sultry smile, and kept dancing.

Ranger felt his pants tighten as she turned her back to him and swung her hips in rhythm with the music. A young cute brunette was dancing in the same cage as Steph, and Ranger saw her lean in and whisper something in Steph's ear. A smile spread across Steph's face and she nodded.

The girl stepped closer and they started to dance together the way girls do sometimes, driving men crazy in the process. There was something incredibly erotic and beautiful with the way their bodies moved to the music. They were almost close enough to touch each other, and Ranger swallowed audibly as Steph ran her hands through her hair and arched her back while moving to the beat. He needed her more than was humanly possible.

Deciding he had taken the torture long enough, he stepped up to the cage and gently, but firmly, pulled Steph down into his lap, causing her to laugh out loud.

"My turn to dance with you, Babe."

The music played with a strong heavy beat, sounding erotic and sexy and they started to move to the beat. Steph quickly realized Ranger had been holding out on her; he really knew how to dance. He moved with the grace of a trained dancer, and with the ease of someone who had rhythm in their blood. The dance was filled with passion and fire, their bodies touching in an undisturbed line.

Ranger grabbed her leg under the thigh, and lifted it up to circle him. He held his hand there, holding up her leg, pressing her hot center against his hard length. Slowly dipping her back, he ground himself harder against her, pleased at the breathless gasp that escaped her throat.

Steph leaned back, her hair brushing the floor. She trusted Ranger not to let her go, and just enjoyed the feeling of him hard against her center. Slowly rising to an upright position again, she leaned in close, letting her lips almost brush against his. She trailed her hands over his wide shoulders, moving them down along his solid arms, down over his abs.

She moved her whole body down further, ending up with her mouth level with his hard cock. Ranger thought he would burst right there as she looked up at him, slowly licking her lips, all the while moving in rhythm with the intoxicating beat.

Growling, he pulled her up flush with his body. He sneaked one hand in between her legs under her skirt, and felt his fingers brush against the damp material of her thong. He heard her draw a sharp breath and felt her ground her hips against him.

"Do you want me Babe?" he whispered in her ear, his lips brushing the shell of her ear. His other arm was firmly around her waist, holding her close.

"Oh God, yes." she panted.

He thrust two fingers inside of her and felt her breath catch. He quickly found her G-spot and rubbed it firmly, causing her to moan and bite down hard on his shoulder.

"We can't do this here, Ranger." Steph panted, trying hard to keep her voice steady and her mind working.

Ranger swore under his breath. "I know that. Let's go."

He grabbed her hand and felt her whimper at the loss of his fingers inside of her.

The ride to the hotel was made in silence, Ranger driving faster than Steph had ever seen him drive before; his driving zone long since forgotten.

They walked briskly into the hotel, standing close but not touching, waiting for the elevator. They entered the elevator and Ranger watched Steph fidget a bit with her shirt, trying to make in cover more than was possible. It was everything Ranger could do not to throw her up against the wall and fuck her right there.

Walking down the hall, Steph waited impatiently as Ranger unlocked the door and walked inside. She had barely made it into the room before the door slammed shut and Ranger had her pinned against it, his hands under her shirt and his tongue in his mouth, driving her crazy with need.

He grabbed her hands, lifting them up high over her head and pinned them against the door, using one of his hands. He felt her shiver as his other hand found its way in under her skirt. His fingers followed the line of her fish net stay ups, making her wish he would move his hand higher up.

As if sensing her need, he thrust his fingers into her in one swift move, causing her to cry out against his lips and arch her back, pressing her breasts into his chest.

She felt his fingers against her G-spot again, and reveled in the feeling of pure pleasure coursing through her body. Need and arousal mixed in an intoxicating blend, as his fingers worked her ruthlessly. She tugged on her arms, trying to free them, wanting to feel his skin under her fingers.

Ranger kept up the sweet torture and pressed his thumb to her clit, making her gasp and squirm. He lowered his mouth onto her neck, placing kisses along her throat and down her neck. Steph leaned her head back, offering her throat to him, and he greedily complied, biting down, causing her to suck in a sharp breath. She felt on fire, the sweet pain only adding to the pleasure of his talented fingers working on her.

It didn't take Steph long before she felt the familiar heat spread through her, signaling her verging orgasm. She felt her muscles tense in preparation and then the climax crashed over her, engulfing her body in white hot pleasure, spreading out from her center too every part of her body.

She slumped against the door and he caught her easily, lifted her into his arms and carried her to the bedroom. Ranger carefully put her down on the bed and joined her, stretching out his body over hers.

Slowly he started to kiss her again, and Steph was only happy to kiss him back. Their tongues battled, tasting each other, hands roaming. Slowly they undressed each other, kissing their way over the other's body, tasting and feeling as much as possible.

Ranger moved to lay over Steph, and ever so slowly he eased himself inside of her, making her feel wonderfully full. They moved together slowly and lovingly, taking their time.

Steph ran her hands over Ranger's hard back, digging her nails into his muscles as he hit her G-spot. She moaned and gasped as he moved his hand in between their bodies, rubbing her clit with apt fingers.

Her second orgasm hit her relentlessly, dragging her body into a spiral of pleasure. Her body ached with the pleasure of feeling him deep inside of her. He kept up a steady pace, thrusting into her, keeping her over the edge for what seemed like hours. Her inner muscles milked him, finally causing him to come inside of her, letting her come down from the high.

They lay together on the bed afterwards, completely spent.

It didn't take long for Steph to fall asleep in Ranger's arms, but he couldn't sleep. He lay awake watching the beautiful woman in his arms. Silently he cursed himself for falling so helplessly in love with someone who was going to marry another man.


	6. Chapter 6

_**Sorry - the wrong file was uplaoded. Here's the real one! **_

_**Preemptive Strike**_

_**By haleigh.l and Lintu68.**_

_**Sorry this was so long in the making but (drum roll please…) here's the final chapter. Just to clear up any confusion from some emails we've been getting, chapter 3 was a dream (Steph thinks they're together, Ranger thinks she's engaged to Morelli).**_

_For those of you familiar with Lintu68's amazing writing, you might recognize the smut throughout this story as her talent._

_Linda – thanks for all your help for everything from working out the plot to the dialogue and especially for the smut. This story just wouldn't be the same without your contribution. I enjoyed working with you, and I hope we can do it again._

_No major spoilers for any of the books_

_Rated M for language and smut – warnings for both abound!_

_As usual, we own none of these characters, and are only amusing ourselves. All will be returned, though they may be a bit sore and flustered._

…

Stephanie stared at the note on her counter. It hadn't been there when she'd left the apartment that morning. But then again, it had taken her all day to catch her one skip.

She read it again. Across the top, someone had scrawled _7:00 tonight._

The rest was typed directions to…well that was the issue. No name, no explanation. Just directions she was apparently supposed to follow.

The pace of her pounding heart said that these were directions to the Batcave. But then there was that gnawing doubt that maybe it was a stalker. A stalker wouldn't leave directions to his own house, right? Was it still a kidnapping if she drove herself?

She shifted from one foot to the other. She was 99 percent….well, probably 95 percent…but pretty sure that the note was from Ranger.

She pulled her phone out of her purse, but set it back down before she had even pushed the speed dial button. If it was from Ranger, it would ruin the surprise if she called and asked him.

And it was a surprise, right?

She checked her watch and let out a small squeak. It was 6:42! She grabbed the directions and looked over them again. It would take her at least twenty minutes to get there, wherever 'there' was.

She grabbed her purse, phone, and the directions and flew down the stairs to her car. God she hoped this wasn't someone's newfangled way to go about kidnapping her. It would be unique, at least. Probably no one had bet on it happening.

Three minutes after she swung into traffic, she looked down at her ripped, stained jeans and uttered a muffled curse. In her haste, she had forgotten how messy she had gotten chasing her one skip. A glance in the rearview mirror confirmed her fear. Her hair was sticking in all directions.

Okay, so maybe it'd be better if it was a kidnapping. She had waited three years to go to the Batcave. And the Batcave at least deserved clean jeans.

She studied the clock on the dashboard. Maybe…no, it was too late to go back and change. She'd just have to hope that someone was waiting to kidnap her on the other end. Because if was Ranger, and this was the Batcave, she was going mortally embarrass herself.

…

Ranger heard a car pull up to the main gate. A glance at the camera confirmed that it was Steph's car. He opened the gate from the inside without saying anything through the speaker. She was glancing around in confusion, but slowly creeped through the open gate.

"Is it all ready?" he said.

Lester nodded. "Yeah man. That's my mother's secret recipe – it'll blow her away."

"Okay. As soon as she's inside, sneak out the back. She can't know you're here."

"This is so cute. Bad-ass Ranger Man is scared of what one little white girl thinks of him."

"I am not scared," he said, emphasizing every word.

A huge grin spread over Lester's face. "Carlos and Steffie, sittin' in a tree. K-I-uglk."

Lester made choking noise as Ranger's arm closed over his throat. "If you tell anyone what happened tonight, _anyone_—"

"I won't," Lester squeaked out.

Ranger dropped his arm. This whole thing was bullshit. He should have called Steph and canceled. Or broken in and stolen the note back. He was going to mortally embarrass himself. This – _this_! – was the grand plan he had come up with in Philly to win Steph away from Joe: to prove he could be domestic, that he could be better for her. Instead he had Lester in his kitchen cooking dinner for him and Steph. Lester, of all people.

This had disaster written all over it.

The doorbell rang.

Fuck.

He took a deep breath. He turned his most intimidating gaze on Lester and his voice was so low it was almost a growl. "Go!"

Lester made another kissy noise and fluttered his eyelashes before ducking into the kitchen.

Ranger wiped his damp palms on his jeans and went to the door. If he could have, he would have kicked his own ass on the way there. He was so nervous he was sweating, over a woman. The last time that had happened he was sixteen. And he was wearing jeans and a polo shirt. He looked like a douche. A corporate douche about to play golf.

Jesus. No wonder Morelli had an ulcer. This woman was going to kill him.

He opened the door.

"Babe."

"Oh god, I'm so glad it's you. You didn't leave your name on the note, you dope. I was afraid I was driving to my own kidnapping."

He glanced her up and down. "Is this your disguise?"

Her face flamed red. "I, uh, got a little messy. And I didn't get home till almost seven, and I didn't want to be late."

He raised an eyebrow. Steph was routinely late.

"In case it was a kidnapping," she rushed on to say. "I mean, I'd hate to piss them off or anything. You know how fickle kidnappers are. One minute they're just nice old men and they next they're shoving you in a pine box and—"

He took pity on her and pulled her into his arms, effectively stopping her embarrassed rambling. "I'm glad you're here."

"Sorry I'm a mess."

He kissed her on the forehead. "It doesn't matter. You're still beautiful."

She grinned at him. "So, is this the Batcave?"

He nodded once.

She squealed. "Do I get a tour? I want to see everything. You have to show me."

"Let's eat dinner first."

"Did Ella send food?"

"Nope. I cooked dinner for you."

"You did?" Then she crinkled up her nose. "Is it a salad? Because I'd way rather have a tour than a salad."

"It's not salad. It's pasta. You'll like it, I promise." He grabbed her hand and walked toward the dining room. She was craning her head in every direction, but he tugged on her hand and kept walking. "I'll give you a tour later, I promise."

"You'd better. I didn't come here just for the food."

He stopped and turned to look at her. Her face turned red.

"I mean, I, uh, came for the tour."

"That's all?"

"Uh…"

He chuckled and pulled on her arm, leading her the rest of the way into the dining room.

"Wow," she said. There were candles lit and salad set out and wine chilling.

"I thought you said it wasn't salad," she said.

"It's not only salad."

She narrowed her eyes.

"You don't have to eat it," he said.

He pulled out a chair for her, and she sat. "What's the occasion? You've gone to a lot of trouble."

"No occasion." Only proving to you that you're better off with me than the douche-bag cop, he thought. Nothing major.

He poured her a glass of wine and sat down. "How was your day?"

She snorted. "How do you think? I spent all day chasing one skip, turned myself into a mess, and I still didn't catch him."

"I have some time tomorrow. I can give you a hand, if you want."

Her eyes widened over her wine glass. "I feel like there's something going on here that I don't know about. There's wine and candles, and you want to help with a skip who hasn't threatened my life and limb. What's going on, Ranger?"

"I thought we could enjoy a nice dinner. You need help, I have time. It's not a big deal."

She relaxed marginally, and took another sip of wine. Whew, that was close. He took a drink of his own wine. Everything had to go perfectly for this to work. Nice relaxing dinner, good wine, amazing sex…he had it all planned out. So far so good.

A bang sounded from the kitchen.

The smoke alarm went off.

Fuck.

Some yelling and bumping came from behind the door. Steph's eyes were huge as she set down her wine glass.

"Uh, Ranger?"

"What babe?"

Her mouth dropped open.

He sighed and got up and went into the kitchen. Lester was going to die. He shut the door behind him, hoping to dissuade her form joining them. "What the fuck is going on?" he said to Lester.

"Uh, sorry man. I was trying the torch for the crème brulee. It didn't go so well."

Ranger turned off the smoke alarm while Lester put out the fire.

"Just go with it and don't make any more noise," Ranger said. He picked up the bowl of pasta that was ready for dinner.

He had just turned to carry it into the dining room, sure he had averted disaster, when the door swung open.

…

Steph walked in and froze. Food was everywhere. Foam from the fire extinguisher was covering most of the food. Char marks were creeping up the walls and smell of smoke lingered.

"What the hell is going on?" she said.

Lester made a show of looking at his watch. "Oh look at the time. I have to go, Boss man. Good luck."

He took one step forward.

"Stop." Steph said, placing a hand on his chest. "You're not going anywhere, Lester Santos. What is going on in here?"

"Steph, has anyone told you today how beautiful you look? I mean, really stunning."

She snorted. "Nice try, Les. Now spill."

"Santos, go home," Ranger said.

Lester shifted on his feet for a second, glancing back and forth between Steph and Ranger. He bolted. They could hear the tires squealing as he backed out of the drive.

"Ranger?" Steph said. "Care to explain?"

"Explain what?" he said, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Okay, we'll start with the easy stuff. What's on fire?"

"Nothing."

She barely resisted rolling her eyes and took a deep breath. "There is fire extinguisher foam everywhere."

"The fire has been put out."

Steph stood for a minute, thinking over the possibilities. "Oh my god, did you have Lester in here cooking for you?"

"No."

"Then why was he here?"

He gave her his intimidating glare. It wasn't working for a second.

"You did! You invited me over here for dinner, but had Lester cooking in the back."

"No, I did not."

"What caught on fire?"

"Babe. I am not going to explain my every action to you—"

"Oh bullshit! You're embarrassed!"

"I don't get embarrassed."

Steph grinned. She knew she had him. "Come on, Ranger. I'm always the one screwing up. It's your turn. It's just me here - tell the truth."

He signed, but admitted that Lester had been cooking, since his first attempt had almost been worse than the blackened crème brulee.

To her credit, Steph didn't laugh. She smiled gently, and said, "thank you."

Ranger frowned. "For what?"

She gestured around the kitchen. "For going to all this effort, for me. Even if we are going to have to order pizza. But you didn't explain what started this whole thing. Why did you want to cook for me?"

"I was thinking I wanted to show you that I could do a normal relationship if you ever decided to look at other options besides Joe."

"Other options? I thought we had something good going here. Why would I want Joe?"

"Well, for starters, you still want to marry him, right?"

"Marry him? Why the hell would I do that? The last two times he's proposed, I've dumped him. Why would I change my mind now?"

"You…you're not engaged to Morelli?"

"Engaged? No! Oh my god, this whole time, you thought I was engaged? You thought I was cheating on Joe and you were okay with that?"

His voice dropped. "I'll take what I can get of you, Stephanie. I would think that the past three years have made that clear."

Steph took a deep breath as understanding seared through her chest. Her eyes filled with tears. "This whole thing…all those nights together and the time in Philly…you were just doing it because you thought I was engaged? You were just trying to stop me from marrying Joe? I thought…I thought it was because you…"

"Because I what, babe?"

She paused and looked away for a second before answering. "I had this dream, on Sunday. It was so real. You told me you loved me, and I thought, all this time, that…" She had to stop as the tears choked her. She could feel the heat in her face over her embarrassment. She had actually thought they were a couple and he thought…oh god.

"I thought that you loved me," she said in a whisper so soft she barely heard it herself.

Ranger walked over to her and gently wiped away her tears. "I do love you, babe. I have for a long time. And maybe it's not the right way, and maybe in the end it won't be enough. But I do love you."

"Enough to want a relationship with me?"

"Enough to want whatever you're willing to give me."

She took a shuddering breath and shifted her weight to her other foot. The problem was that for the past week, she had thought they were a couple. And she had loved every second of it. The question left was weather or not she had the guts to try it again, for real this time. Not just a dream.

She took the final step remaining between them, close enough they were sharing the same space. The hell with it. She looked up at him. "Even if I want to give you everything?"

"Especially then."

A slow smile spread over her face. "This means you and I would actually be in a relationship. Can you live with that?"

"I'll learn to deal."

"Good." She leaned up and kissed him gently, trailing her tongue over his lips, feeling them, soft and full under hers.

As her tongue sneaked in between his lips, she felt him growl and within a second he had pulled her flush to his body. He buried his hands in her curls and tilted her head to the side. His lips left a trail of fire over her skin as he traced them down her neck and over her collar bone.

A moan escaped her lips as he grabbed the hem of her shirt and tugged it up and over her head. His hands covered her breasts and he kneaded them as his lips were busy on her neck, sending delicious shivers down her spine.

She tugged at his shirt, trying to expose his chest to her, desperate to feel naked skin under her fingers. Hurriedly he stepped back to pull the shirt off, but instead of the sexy maneuver he had planned, he slipped on the fire extinguisher foam on the floor and went down hard on his ass.

"Oh my God! Are you okay?" Stephanie asked, trying to keep the laughter from her voice.

"Babe. Are you laughing at me?" he asked in a mock threatening voice.

The sight of him on his ass in the foam was just too much for her and she couldn't stop the laughter bubbling up inside of her.

Ranger made a growling noise and lunged for her, pulling her down on the floor with him. Within three seconds she found herself on her back on the floor with Ranger's hard body covering her. The laughter died on her lips and was replaced by a smile.

"I love you," she said.

His eyes turned black in an instant and he sprung into action, practically tearing her clothes off of her, kissing her every part of her that he uncovered.

"You have no idea how long I waited to hear you say that," he whispered against her neck, before claiming her lips in a hungry kiss.

Her body responded immediately, making her warm in all the right places. His body felt so completely right against her, and she made quick work of his clothes, dying to feel him inside of her.

He entered her slowly and deeply, making her feel every inch of him. The cool floor against her back created a wonderful contrast to the hot body covering her. And his movements inside of her sent her higher for every second, pushing her closer to the edge. Her body felt hot with pleasure and her breathing turned ragged and fast as the heat of the approaching orgasm raced through her body.

She dug her fingers into his back, her nails leaving marks in his skin, egging him on. Their bodies worked perfectly together, driving each other higher, until the pleasure was too much and she felt a massive climax rush through her in waves, making her feel dizzy with pleasure. Only seconds later, Ranger followed her over the edge, making her gasp as he came deep inside of her.

Afterwards, they lay panting on the floor together, trying to collect themselves, just enjoying the aftermath. Ranger slowly sat up and pulled her into his lap. Steph let out a contented sigh and leaned her head on his shoulder.

"Can I ask you a question?" he said.

"Mm hmm."

"If you weren't marrying Morelli, why did you jump me Friday night?"

"I had a plan."

He raised one eyebrow.

She sighed. It was embarrassing, but he had spilled his embarrassing story, so it was probably only fair that she did the same. "I was trying to preempt you. I thought you would back off if we slept together again, and if I were in control, I could keep my heart out of it."

His smile grew as she kept explaining the whole thing. "That was a terrible plan, babe. No wonder we were both so confused."

"Yeah. In fact, can we just go over this one more time, just to make sure that we're both on the same page."

Ranger chuckled and adjusted his arms around her. "I think it's pretty simple babe. I love you, you love me."

"And we're in a relationship."

He groaned. "Can we call it something else?"

"And I'm not marrying Morelli."

Ranger's arms tightened around her. "No, you're not."

She looked around the partially destroyed kitchen they were still sitting in. "And no more stupid plans, right?"

"Babe. I think we need to work on your tactical abilities before you try any more plans."

She shoved at his chest playfully. "Hey, you're 'tactical planning' wasn't so hot this time either."

Ranger looked around as well and sighed. "I can't explain it babe. You can make even the best-laid plans get entirely fucked up."

"It's part of my charm."

He kissed her temple. "Babe."

"So, now do I _finally_ get a tour of the Bat Cave?"

…

_The end (and this time we mean it!). Thanks for reading!_

_And as a sidebar - this is in now way meant to steal Cindy's thunder when it comes to embarrassing Ranger. We're confident that she can come up with a much better way to take down our man of mystery! _


End file.
